Thirteen-year-old Noam Melamed got out of school early Wednesday and hitched a ride home with a neighbor instead of taking the usual bus ride home. Little did he know how fateful a decision that would be.

Shortly before pulling into the Jewish settlement named Tekoa, where he lives, the driver of the car turned the bend of the Arab village with the same name and met a dramatic, rock-throwing ambush by Palestinian youths.

As the car passed through the barrage, a large rock flew into the car, breaking the windshield and hitting the eighth grader – who was sitting in the front passenger seat – straight in the face.

His mother tells TheBlaze that Noam passed out, sustained a broken nose, and his upper lip was sliced straight through.

The rock thrown by a Palestinian terrorist, that could have killed Noam Melamed, instead of only breaking his nose and slicing open his lip.